Early 17th century literature often had a sense of anxiety and distress.
Themes of exile and displacement are often seen in 17th century literature as a result of the religious and political upheavels that forced many to emigrate from England.
Corruption in the legal system, mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers were also common themes.
Poetry - elaboration of language and extensive allusion to classical myths; Shakespeare popularized the English sonnet.
Metaphysical Poetry - reinforced the traditional lyric forms of devotion and love by stretching them to comprehend new intellectual energies
Cavalier Poetry - often condensed and compressed, sense of easy domination at expense of intellectual content
AUTHORS/POETS
Elizabethan:
Edmund Spenser
Sir Philip Sidney
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May;
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or Nature's changing course, untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ownest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou growest.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
-William Shakespeare
Jacobean:
William Shakespeare
John Donne - Began as a typical Elizabethan poet. After financial strain, illnesses, and deaths of friends he began writing with a more somber and gloomy tone.
"Each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
George Herbert - Herbert was a priest and wrote religious poems, some of which have been used as hymns. His style is noted for its directness of expression.
Early 17th century literature often had a sense of anxiety and distress.
Themes of exile and displacement are often seen in 17th century literature as a result of the religious and political upheavels that forced many to emigrate from England.
Corruption in the legal system, mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers were also common themes.
Poetry - elaboration of language and extensive allusion to classical myths; Shakespeare popularized the English sonnet.
Metaphysical Poetry - reinforced the traditional lyric forms of devotion and love by stretching them to comprehend new intellectual energies
Cavalier Poetry - often condensed and compressed, sense of easy domination at expense of intellectual content
AUTHORS/POETS
Elizabethan:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May;
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or Nature's changing course, untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ownest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou growest.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
-William Shakespeare
Jacobean:
- William Shakespeare
- John Donne - Began as a typical Elizabethan poet. After financial strain, illnesses, and deaths of friends he began writing with a more somber and gloomy tone.
"Each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."Caroline:
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